Image of the Month
The Fornax Galaxy Cluster
The Fornax Galaxy Cluster
The Fornax Galaxy Cluster: A group of over 15 galaxies located on the Fornax/Eridanus border, not far from the giant barred spiral galaxy NGC-1365. This cluster is anchored by two giant elliptical galaxies, NGCs 1399 and 1404. This cluster lies at a distance of 62 million light years from Earth, and is the second most massive galaxy cluster within 100 million light years of Earth, after the considerably larger Virgo Cluster.
This image, acquired on November 4, 2016, is a 1 hour integration of 6 minute exposures through the Celestron C-11 at f/2, using the HyperStar III imaging system and the Starlight Express SXVR-H694C color CCD camera, operating at -10 degrees below ambient temperature and binned 1 X 1. Guided, captured and combined using Maxim DL5 Pro. Post processed using PhotoShop CS2, Gradient XTerminator, StarShrink, Carboni's Astro Tools and NoiseWare.